In a bid to tap into growing markets in the health food world, a new lupin processing plant has opened at Forrestfield in Perth, Western Australia.

It’s the first facility in Australia to produce lupin foods like lupin flour and falafel, on a commercial scale.

The mill was first built in 2006 as a joint venture between the CBH Group and George Weston Foods as Australasian Lupin Processing (ALP).

It was initially commissioned to separate lupin hull from its kernel in commercial quantities, primarily for the animal feed market.

But in 2012, George Weston Foods decided to end the joint venture and the CBH Group Board made the decision to change the direction of the business to explore and develop lupins as a health food for human consumption.

The business was therefore recapitalised with further investment , re-branded Lupin Foods Australia and is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of the CBH Group.

The plant has the technology to manufacture a number of lupin food products such as lupin flour, flakes, hull, kibble and splits.

“Lupins are, without doubt, the highest natural source of protein and fibre in the world,” said general manager of Lupin Foods Australia, David Fienberg.

“It’s a fairly powerful thing to say but it is so versatile and such a complete food that you don’t really need anything else.

“Our efforts try to focus on commercialising it.”

Mr Fienburg says there's an increasing market in the health food world and the company has plans to get into the Indonesian and European markets.

“Our target is the global market. We can’t restrict ourselves to Australia,” he said.

“It’s well-known through western Europe that half a million tonnes of lupins is consumed annually, so we think we can capitalise on that into the high value market.”